High street photography shops - a dying trade?

wez130

wez130

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A couple of years ago, the headlines in the newspapers and on the news were all about the death of the high street camera shop, Dixons stopped selling film and many, many independant stores went bust, what went wrong?

Since around 2004/2005, dSLR's have become more and more affordable to the hobbyist and there's never been a shortage of equipment from budget lenses (i paid £80 for a sigma 18-55 back then), still it was a twitchy period as popularity wasn't as good as it is now, which brings me onto my next point.

Today, the digital imaging market is flourishing nicely, theres a huge range to cater for every need, more importantly, dSLR kits are really cheap these days, even cheaper than some bridge cameras, The dSLR market has never had it better, more and more people are buying dSLR's, which in turns brings more competition into the market from the different brands, it's just like a giant snowball at the moment, even lens prices have come down some, though not enough yet.

My question really is where did it all go wrong for the independant shop?

RGBtech in Middlesbrough opened back in 2005/06 sometime and they seem to have got it right, their prices are VERY competitive and the shop is always busy, but this hasn't been the case for many other shops.
 
The internet is where it went wrong.

Its opened up the market to foreign imports and people are looking for the best deal rather than the best service and its driving people who have to staff and run a high street bricks and mortar shop rather than a virtual warehouse drop shipping or in their back bedroom.
 
I understand that, but RGB like i say is a 'bricks and mortar' shop and they are highly competative, granted they can't compete with grey imports from ebay but they are always bustling with business, these are the only independants i know of in my area apart from one other crappy shop in Middlesbrough which has halved its selling space and has no stock in ever.
 
I agree the internet did kill the high street shops but I sometimes wonder if stores like CeX www.cex.co.uk start stocking used photogrpahy equipments for buy sell or exchange? Any thoughts? :thinking:
 
My local independent camera shop (indeed the only one in Stevenage I think) is Digital Depot. I think they have survived/make a profit is because they sell bulk on the internet and only use the shop as a small part of their business.
 
In Chiswick, west London, there is a small independant camera shop - been there for years, and looks like it will remain for a while yet.
They sell mainly compacts and some S/H film stuff.
The staff are amazing - despite being young, they really know their stuff, and are so keen that it fires you up.
I guess they mainly sell to the affluent young mums who want to take pictures of the baby etc, but who want advice and to handle whatever camera they might buy - I bought my first few compacts and my first DSLR from them, and hope they can help others like me get into photography (I was not either young or a mum at the time, and am still not affluent..!)
So often here we hear people say 'go to Jessops for a try then buy online'
I don't agree with this, as if you are using the local shop to try, then you really ought to buy there...
Anyway, I am going off on a rant, so time to stop.....
 
andrewc said:
The internet is where it went wrong.

Its opened up the market to foreign imports and people are looking for the best deal rather than the best service
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With respect, I disagree. Not everyone wants/needs to pay for the service the shops provided, or indeed considered it a service.

I prefer to do my research by myself, know absolutely what I want and why, so the equation only comes down to which manufacturer makes it, and what's the most efficient way to get it from them to me.

Anything else inbetween is a resource which would be better used elsewhere - no point in someone working hard on something that isn't needed.

For sure others will have different opinion, and prefer or need the service provided - and they can support and pay for that. But that shouldn't mean I have to pay for it if I don't need to, and the internet has provided that freedom.
 
The problem with the internet is you buy on other peoples say so. What I mean by that is that you never see the item until it's paid for and in your hands, and you go on trust that what people have said on the internet is true.

RGB and digital depot probably make a loss from their retail stores. The internet mail order sites both these companies have probably keep them going. If they didn't have those big sites, they wouldn't be there on your highstreet.

What we're going to see is the small helpful independant shops slowly becoming extinct ( it's already happening ) and then all you'll have is mail order.

Actually though the bigger problem is illegal imports through ebay ( and most people on here probably buy them )

Pete
 
chouglez said:
I agree the internet did kill the high street shops but I sometimes wonder if stores like CeX www.cex.co.uk start stocking used photogrpahy equipments for buy sell or exchange? Any thoughts? :thinking:
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My branch in Manchester has some bridge and dSLRs, massively overpriced though...and no extra lenses etc, but its a start!
 
They will die out as they won't be needed. This forum gives me loads of sound advice when used with other internet resources. Kit can be purchased without having to hoik down to a shop and I can browse 20 shops in 20 seconds to get the best price!

They will die out like music shops are. They shouldn't worry - just transfer the trade to the inernet.
 
Just noticed this thread after posting on a similar one.......
Here in Norfolk we are not too badly off. There is a Jessops in Norwich which has price matched for me in the past (and beaten every other available UK price.) Then there is Norfolk Camera Centre in Dereham, an independant: good range of stock, good prices and the two guys who run the place are knowledgable as well. Plus we have Warehouseexpress as well.
All of these I can drive to in less than half an hour, play with the kit and then buy it if I like it!
 
If I'm going to buy new then I tend to use Calumet in Manchester. They may not be the cheapest but they work with the professional sector of the market, really know their stuff and I've had lots of good advice. I suppose I've paid for that advice with some of the major purchases I've made there but then I've also been reassured that they were still going to be there if anything went wrong.

Second hand I'll buy off ebay, I bought all my MF stuff there and had no problems.
The small independant on the high street has a skills problem, the ones I have found really have had little idea about photography in general and their products in particular. On-line that skills shortage is not seen by the consumer.
 
Plugus Maximus said:
They will die out as they won't be needed. This forum gives me loads of sound advice when used with other internet resources. Kit can be purchased without having to hoik down to a shop and I can browse 20 shops in 20 seconds to get the best price!

They will die out like music shops are. They shouldn't worry - just transfer the trade to the inernet.
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OK, so you can browse 20 shops in 20 seconds, but can you feel and touch a camera etc, and is the best price always the cheapest ??
Just a question....
 
Theres 4 that I know of in my area :LOL: all overpriced jessops being the worst offender I find them good places to test lenses you'd like though
 
purpleclouds said:
My branch in Manchester has some bridge and dSLRs, massively overpriced though...and no extra lenses etc, but its a start!
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I am sure they are overpriced but if they start selling photography stuff in bulk then hopefully the volume will outdo the price.
 
I was told today by one of my local camera shops, that two years ago some bigwig who works for Canon (who used to sell Mars bars.. seriously this is what I was told :LOL:) decided to stop supplying small retailers with Canon gear. And that is why they didn't have any canon lenses in stock.

Now we all know how popular Canon is, maybe this has been a large part of it? :shrug:
 
I have (had) one independent photography shop in the area, based in Windsor. A few weeks ago he told me he was going to have to close because his lease was up for renewal and the business that owns the precinct was putting it up by 300% :eek:

He has since taken a concession in a local independent department store. I think that the majority of them are being priced off of the High Street in this way.

Steve
 
Looking through the photo mags, there seems to be a shedload of independants who've ALL embraced the internet. Maybe they've had to shelve a few staff, move to smaller premises but there still seems to be a bouyant tarde despite the VAT-free concessions many HK-based shops are giving (onestopdigital etc).

I work int he angling trade and have seen so many small tackle shops go the way of the boot. There have been more 'superstores' opening up though (Fosters now has a big store in Go Outdoors in Cov) but the canny independant shops have specialised and most have done okay thanks to mailorder and the internet.

It'll even itsef out at one point, these things always do, but there will undoubtedly be casualties along the way.
 
When I went to my local independent camera shop in town asking about 400D to 40D upgrade/trade-in, I couldn't believe it when they had the 40D body-only for sale at £810, and could only offer me £120 for my 400D (this was only 5 or 6 weeks ago.)
The guy behind the counter actually said I was better of selling the camera on ebay, etc.
 
at some point the government is going to close the ebay loop hole that allows the HK sellers on Ebay to offer guarenteed no taxes and all that malarky and then I think you'll see things back on a more even keel.

Those independants that survive will need to offer a good range of kit at competeive prices and also all the extras like printing and advice etc. I got my Sigma 17-70 in a local independant as it was only a tenner more than the online competition and then they sold me a UV filter cheaper than most online places.
 
a1ex2001 said:
at some point the government is going to close the ebay loop hole that allows the HK sellers on Ebay to offer guarenteed no taxes and all that malarky and then I think you'll see things back on a more even keel.
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I hope they don't, we pay far too much tax anyway (well, not easy to describe as "too much" tax, but let's say that what is already taken is very badly apportioned, and fixing that should be by far first priority before asking for more).

In any case, the HK shops can only do that because of government inefficiency. They don't "avoid tax", they openly guarantee that they will pay it for you. Their business model relies on the fact that the government will notice so few, that it will pay off for them. I guarantee you if the job was done properly, those offers would stop very quickly!
 
When i bought my 400d i browsed a lot of online places and Jessops were the same price so i gave them my money and i had the camera same day instead of waiting for the postman
 
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